A Place To Call Home: Forgotten
by The Azure Guardian
Summary: After being forced into a video game world, a young man with no memory of his past must assist Zidane and friends as he searches for what was lost. Rated T for language. on hiatus


**MDD: Well now... This wasn't what I had planned. I'll be perfectly honest, I wasn't planning on doing another Self-Insert story, at least not this soon. However, stuff came up and I kinda found myself doing this as a result. Now then, before I become a target of "you took this from Duelist Of Dawn", I was actually not inspired by anyone to do this story. Any similarities between this story and his Melodies Of Life series is done with his permission and will be kept to a minimum with some exceptions since rewrite stories tend to have a similar flow no matter who writes them due to being from the same source material. Now then, the real reason why I decided to do a Final Fantasy IX rewrite wasn't really my choice. I got the idea to do this because I have read quite a few self-insert fics and got an idea of "what if the self-insert had to pay some kind of price to enter the world or if there was some kind of drawback to entering?". In this case, my self-insert will have lost his left arm, his right eye and suffers from amnesia and Final Fantasy IX was the best one I could find that I knew decently well enough that I could work with for the idea. Ah, I can already hear some of you thinking "amnesiac protagonists are overdone in JRPGS". However, there's a perfectly good reason for mine and it won't be explained until way late in the story. Now then, before we get started I think I'll put up the character sheet of my self-insert for how he is once he's transported.**

**Name: Kurt Smith  
Age: 23  
Gender: Male  
Class: Red Mage  
Weapon: giant broadsword (think Buster Sword from FFVII)  
Skills (Normal) : Sword Art, Black Magic, White Magic, X Rengeki (read as "Cross Rengeki")  
Skills (Trance) : Magic Combination**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX. I do, however, own my Self-Insert.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Press Start**

To anyone thinking it might be fun, interesting or amusing to enter the world of their favorite video game to join the main characters on their adventures and save the world…

I ask you to _please_ reconsider.

Unless you find it fun to fight ridiculously strong monsters as you try to survive, you're only going to get yourself killed.

My name is Kurt Smith. And this is my story…

* * *

**(Kurt's Home)**

"So bored…" I tiredly moan while sitting in a chair in my room.

As I had said before, my name is Kurt Smith. I'm 23 years old, 6'1", Caucasian, have an average body build, though I'm a bit on the scrawny side, and have short, messy brown hair and hazel eyes. I currently live in a self-made basement room with my mother and sister. At least, that's what I'd _like_ to say. Unfortunately I pretty much have the house entirely to myself most days. My mother rarely ever comes home anymore, only about once a month and even then for just a couple hours. As for my sister, she's just a complete bitch who constantly treats me like dirt and as a result I've gained a habit of locking myself in my room away from others. My life isn't _complete_ crap though, even if it may seem like it.

As for this exact moment, it was one of those days I had off from work and thus had the entire house to myself. The problem: I can never find anything to do that'd alleviate my boredom, at least not for very long. I decided to get up from my chair and walk to one of my desks, opening the drawers and looking through them for various games to play.

The game systems I currently own consist of a PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. As a gamer, my library of video games is unfortunately not very large, though that might attribute to me having distinct interests in games. The most notable games and game series I own consist of Knights of the Old Republic for the original Xbox, the .hack series for the PS2 and PSP, the Mass Effect trilogy for the 360, every DragonBall Z game from the PS2 era, the three console God Of War games, The World Ends With You for the DS, Okami and Okamiden for the PS2 and DS respectively, the Zelda games Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword for the GameCube and Wii respectively, every Kingdom Hearts game to date, every numbered Dragon Quest game to date, and every numbered Final Fantasy game spanning the PSX, PS2, PSP, GBA and DS from Final Fantasy I up to Final Fantasy X.

"Let's see here… What to play…" I said to myself as I skimmed through the games before finally grabbing one and pulling it out of the drawer. "Final Fantasy IX… Well I've never beaten it yet so I guess I might as well give it another try."

After closing the drawers to my desk, I opened the game case and popped the first disc into my PS2, making sure to put in a PSX memory card before grabbing the controller and turning on the system and my TV. I sat back down in my chair, a firm grip on my PS2 controller as I decided to let the opening movie play for the sake of nostalgia. But just as the game's title and main menu appeared on the screen, the entire screen started flashing red and black and the music was replaced with a buzzing sound and static.

"What the hell is going on?" I wondered, as this was the first time anything like this had happened.

Then, a white human silhouette slowly appeared on the flashing screen.

"Let the game begin," the voice of an old man suddenly said.

"What?" I questioned before the TV emitted a bright flash and everything suddenly went dark.

* * *

**(?)**

I slowly awoke from my sleep from the chirping of birds and a gentle breeze brushing against my face. I blinked a few times before slowly looking around to find I was sitting in an open field with my back against a tree and a large stone wall several yards in front of me.

"Where am I?" I muttered to myself.

It was then that I felt something around my head, so I raised my right arm to feel what was there.

"Fabric?" I wondered, judging by the feel of the material though I also felt a few tufts of hair sticking from the wrapped material.

As I felt over the fabric, I unintentionally moved my hand down to my face… only to feel the material covered the entire right side of my face, including my right eye. My hand flinched at this realization.

"So is this… a bandage?" I asked myself as I lightly touched the fabric once more for a moment. "Was I injured?"

As I moved my right arm down, I realized I couldn't feel my left arm. Thinking it had gone numb while I was asleep, I moved my right hand over my chest to grab my left arm… only for my hand to grab my side instead.

"Wh… what?" I questioned with a bit of shock in my voice as I turned me head to my left and noticed my entire left arm was missing.

I quickly pulled my right hand away from my side and slowly raised it to where my left shoulder should have been.

"How did this…" I trailed off, but decided it wasn't worth freaking out over since I had no idea how I even lost my arm.

_Did I lose it in a fight? Or did it have to be removed because of a disease?_ I took a better look at where my arm should've been but didn't see any kind of stump or scarring that would've indicated I had my arm removed, forcefully or otherwise. _Was I just born without an arm?_

"Why can't I remember?" I asked myself before spotting something from the corner of my eye.

Planted in the ground not too far from me was a large, single-edged, thick-bladed weapon - a sword by the looks of it - and resting on the hilt was a red hat with a single white feather sticking out on one side. As they were practically right beside me, I concluded that both the hat and the weapon belonged to me. I put my hand on the ground to push myself to my feet, feeling the softly blowing grass through my fingers, and took this time to look myself over.

My clothing consisted of dark red pants tucked into black shoes and a lightly-armored red vest with a scale design over a grey sleeveless dress shirt with its collar folded down. Due to not knowing why I was wearing these exact clothes, I decided not to wonder too much about it. Judging by my arm, I figured my body was fairly well toned. This only made me wonder if I was a fighter of some kind. Though considering the size of the nearby weapon, I felt it was a safe assumption.

I walked towards the planted sword and removed the hat from the hilt, gently placing it on my head over the bandages, making only the bandages around the right side of my face visible. Standing right next to the sword, I notice the blade of the weapon is almost twice as wide as me. I then wrapped my fingers around the hilt of the sword and grabbed it tightly, hesitating for a moment before pulling upward, slowly removing the blade from the ground. In appearance, the sword had a black hilt and instead of a straight crossguard the one on this sword was circular and yellow with some kind of circular blue gem imbedded in the center. The blade of sword, however, was half black and half yellow with the center to the edge being yellow and the center to the back being black. I lifted the sword a little; surprised by the ease of which I could handle the weapon and thus concluded the weapon must have been mine if I could so much as lift it as easily as I was. I gave the weapon a few swings before moving it over my back, hearing something click once the flat of the blade met my back. Slowly removing my hand from the hilt, I was a little surprised when I didn't feel the sword hit the ground and so assumed I must have been wearing some kind of mechanism on my back meant to hold the weapon in place until I needed it.

"I guess I'd better find out where I am," I told myself as I looked towards the large stone wall ahead of me. "Maybe I can find someone who knows who I am and can help me remember everything."

I started walking towards the stone structure and soon began walking around to try and find an entrance. Luckily it didn't take very long and I even managed to spot two people wearing matching uniforms consisting of a teal green one-piece singlet under a silver chestplate, a silver helmet, a pair of brown boots that went halfway up their shins, a pair of ridiculously oversized steel gloves and a sheathed sword attached to the right side of their waist while holding a rounded shield in their right hand. Judging by the uniform, and that both of them had long hair tied back into ponytails, I assumed the two were women as it didn't look like any uniform a man would willingly choose to wear. Of course, the two of them must have seen me approaching the entrance as they both walked towards me.

"Halt. What is your business here?" one of them asked, their voices proving my guess that they were both women.

"Business?" I repeated in confusion but tried to be as polite as I could. "Sorry, but I don't even know where I am. Could one of you tell me?"

"You're kidding, right?" the other woman scoffed. "This is the Kingdom of Alexandria. Everyone knows that."

"Alexandria?" I repeated slowly, slightly tilting my head to the side in confusion before a quick rush of pain ran through my head, forcing me to place my hand on my head as I grunted in pain.

"Are you… okay?" the second woman asked cautiously.

"Did you get injured by the monsters on the way here?" the first woman asked.

"I… I don't know…" I answered slowly. "I don't remember anything…"

The two women looked at each other briefly before returning their attentions to me, a look of sympathy in their eyes.

"Then you should probably get some rest and find a doctor in town," one of them offered.

"Unfortunately the Queen is hosting a play from Lindblum today, so there might not be any doctors available until tomorrow," the other pointed out.

"Thank you," I said with a nod before walking by the two women as they stepped aside to let me pass.

As I walked through the entrance, I saw a lot of stone buildings, which I assumed to be houses and such, as well as a large crowd of people, most of them heading in a single direction.

"Are all these people going to that play?" I asked myself as I walked further in until I felt something bump into me from behind.

"Oof!" I heard someone say along with what sounded like a soft impact with the ground.

I slowly turned around to see who had run into me only to find out it was a child, or at least what I thought was a child due to their size, wearing a blue jacket, green and white striped trousers, red and white gloves, brown boots and a brown pointed hat on his head, though the hat seemed too big as the top half was flopped over the back.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," the child asked, the young, male voice proving my thoughts right as he pushed himself to his feet and straightened his hat a little. "Sorry, I should've watched where I was going."

"It's fine," I assured the boy as I got a better look at his face, though I was a little surprised that all I could see were a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

"Oh! You're hurt!" the child gasped, likely from seeing my face and lack of an arm.

"Not recently," I said to try and calm the child down. "I'm not even sure _when_ I got these."

"You don't know? That isn't normal, is it?" the child asked, tilting his head to the side. "Do you have amnesia?"

"I… might," I answered slowly while processing the question, though it was a very likely case.

"Here!" a little girl called out as she walked up to the boy and I, holding something out for the child. "You dwopped your ticket."

"Oh, thank you," the boy said as he gently took the ticket from the girl.

"Bye-bye!" the girl said before running towards the large crowd.

"A ticket?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Yeah, it's for today's play," the boy answered. "It's called _I Want To Be Your Canary_."

"The play…" I repeat to myself, recalling the two women from earlier mentioning it.

"Get outta my way!" I heard someone shout, grabbing my attention just quickly enough to pull the boy and myself to the side as a child-sized rat person ran by.

"Damn brat," I said under my breath.

"Thank you, Mister…" the boy paused, probably wanting to know my name.

"It's…" I started, but a quick rush of pain had me grunt as I placed my hand on my head for a moment. "Kurt… Kurt Smith."

"M-My name's Vivi," the boy introduced himself, though he sounded a little shy.

"So you're trying to get to the play, right?" I asked, to which Vivi nodded. "Then let's go hand it in."

"O-Okay," the kid agreed.

As the two of us walked through the town, we eventually saw a booth in the middle of what was probably a market district with a large sign that said "TICKET".

"That must be it," I said before looking down at Vivi. "You'd better get going if you want to enjoy the play."

"Th-Thank you very much," Vivi said with a bow before running towards the booth.

_Alright, now I just need to find somewhere to stay until that play ends…_

"Nooooo!" I heard Vivi cry out.

"Hm?" I looked back in the direction of the ticket booth to see Vivi hanging his head, so I decided to walk over and check on him. "What's wrong?"

"You with the kid?" tasked the person in the ticket booth, who looked like some kind of anthropomorphic dog.

"Something like that," I answered.

"I see. Well unfortunately the ticket he had was a fake, so I can't let him in to see the play," the dog person said.

"A fake?" I repeated, to which I was shown the ticket.

"It may look like the real deal if you skim over it, but if you look closely you'll spot the forgery," the ticketmaster said.

I looked over the ticket and saw that it was for a play called _I Want To Be Your Crow_ instead of _I Want To Be Your Canary_. I then glanced down at Vivi before returning my focus to the ticketmaster.

"He's just a kid. You can't really blame him for making that mistake. Can't you just make an exception?" I requested.

"I'd like to, honestly I would. But if I let him in then I'd have to let in everyone else who had a fake ticket and that wouldn't be fair to the people who paid for the proper tickets since there's limited seating," the dog person apologized, then dug around for something under the counter before pulling out three cards and holding them out to Vivi. "I really am sorry, kid. Here, take these as my apology."

"Huh? O-Okay," Vivi accepted, taking the cards from the ticketmaster and looking at them. "What are these?"

"They're called Tetra Master cards," the ticketmaster answered. "Try finding someone who knows about the game to learn more."

"Thank you," Vivi said, though being rather downcast due to not knowing his ticket was a fake, before the two of us walked away from the booth and Vivi turned his attention to me. "Do you know anything about these cards?"

"I'm not sure. Mind if I have a look?" I asked as I held out my hand, to which Vivi gave me his three cards and I looked at them.

On each card was the image of some kind of creature. One was some kind of wolf with dark fur, another was a skeleton holding a sword, and the third was an odd creature with large ears carrying a dagger.

"Sorry, I don't recognize these," I said as I gave the cards back to Vivi. "Either they part of my memories I've forgotten or I never saw them before."

"Oh, okay," the child said as he put the cards away.

"By the way, how much did you pay for that ticket?" I asked, mostly curious to find out what the currency was called.

"3,000 gil," Vivi answered. "Why?"

_So money here is called gil? That'll be good to know._ "I think someone was trying to con you out of your money," I replied, earning a depressed sigh from the kid. "Maybe we can find another way for you to see the play."

"H-Huh? Can we?" Vivi asked with uncertainty. "We won't get in trouble, will we?"

"Not going to lie, we probably will," I answered as I slowly looked at our surroundings. "Unless we can find some way that won't attract attention."

"Pst! Hey, you!" I heard someone quietly call out from nearby, though Vivi must have heard it too as the both of us looked around for the voice. "You with the shrimp! Over here!"

"Kurt," Vivi said as I felt him nudge my arm to get my attention.

I looked down at Vivi and ssaw him pointing at something. I turn my attention to where he was pointing and noticed some kind of alleyway. Standing in the alley while appearing to make an attempt at hiding was the rat child that nearly ran into us before. From the looks of it, the kid was calling Vivi and I over to him.

"Should we go?" Vivi asked.

"At least to see what he wants," I replied as the two of us walked towards the rat child.

"So, you're the ones with the phony ticket, ain'tcha?" the kid asked.

"Y-Yeah, it's fake," Vivi answered in embarrassment.

"Well I've got good news for you, I know a way to see the show," the rat kid said.

"R-Really?" Vivi asked with anticipation.

"And what do you want in return?" I asked, earning the attentions of both children. "I get the feeling you're not helping us just to be nice."

"I'll let the both of you in on it…" the rat kid paused for a moment before snickering. "If you both agree to be my slaves."

"What makes you think we'll—"

"A-Alright!" Vivi interrupted me as he blurted out his answer, surprising me a bit.

"Vivi?" I questioned the child I was accompanying.

"Awesome! Now for your first assignment!" the rat child declared, almost as if he was used to this kind of thing. "Both of you stay right here and check if anyone's comin'! Got it?"

"Y-Yeah," Vivi answered with a nod before turning around to watch the alley's entrance and I merely nodded before doing the same.

I heard the rat kid run off behind us and I soon turned my attention back to Vivi.

"Why did you agree to what he said?" I asked.

"W-Well, I thought maybe he'd know a way in that wouldn't get us in trouble," Vivi answered apologetically. "Sorry, I probably should've asked first."

"It's fine, we probably would've agreed in the end anyway," I answered. "Just be more careful next time, okay?"

"Okay," Vivi agreed with a nod.

"All clear?" the two of us heard the rat kid ask.

"It's clear," I answered.

"Awesome! Engage according to mission parameters!" the rat child ordered us, but Vivi and I just turned around to face him with looks of confusion, causing him to groan in annoyance. "Just follow me!"

The rat child then proceeded to grab a nearby ladder, holding it over his head, and took off down the alley with Vivi and I having little choice but to follow him, passing by several houses.

"Into the steeple!" the kid ordered us as we followed him into a nearby building.

The inside of the building was rather small and empty with a single, hollowed-out stone column in the center with a ladder inside leading up.

"Now we're gonna climb up this tower! Once we get up there, we won't be far from the castle!" the rat kid said before moving aside while still carrying the ladder over his head. "It's a little dangerous, so you guys go first."

"Coward," I said under my breath.

"What did you just say_!_?" the rat child yelled, but I didn't reply as into the hollowed column.

Just as I was about to grab the ladder, I heard something fall from above me. I took a step back and held out my arm to catch something white and fluffy. Upon closer inspection, it looked like some kind of small, white-furred animal with small purple wings and a red ball connected to its head.

"What the?" I could only wonder.

"Kupo!" the ball of fur called out before jumping out of my hand and stood on two legs, looking at me with squinted eyes. "Thank you for catching me, kupo!"

"No problem…" I said slowly, unsure of what to make of the creature.

"This is Kupo. He's a moogle," the rat kid introduced the creature as it replied with another "Kupo". "And these are slaves number one and number two!"

"Kupo! Pleased to meet you!" the moogle said with a bow before Vivi or I could make a protest to the rat child.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, time for some upward mobility!" the rat kid declared as he took the ladder up the tower, carrying the other ladder in one arm before soon calling down to us. "Okay, come on up, slaves!"

"He better stop calling us that soon," I said under my breath.

"Kupo…? You here?" I then heard another voice from behind, to which I turned around and saw another moogle walk into the building, but this one had gold fur and wore a bandana on its head while carrying a bag on its back.

"Kupo! Stiltzkin!" Kupo greeted the new moogle. "What's with the getup? Are you leaving, kupo?"

"Yeah, and this time I might be away for a long time," Stiltzkin answered.

"I'll miss you, kupo," Kupo said in a rather saddened tone.

"Now, don't you worry. I'll write," Stiltzkin assured his fellow moogle.

"Okay, kupo!" Kupo nodded, having cheered up a little.

"Well, I'm off. Say hi to Mosh at the castle for me," Stiltzkin requested of Kupo before making his way out of the building.

"Was that a friend of yours?" Vivi asked Kupo.

"Yes, kupo. A very special one, kupo!" Kupo answered enthusiastically.

"Hey, slaves! I thought I ordered you up here!" the rat kid yelled down at us.

"Guess we'd better do as he says if we're going to get you to that play," I told Vivi.

"You don't want to see it?" the child asked as he turned to face me.

"Not sure if I like that kind of thing," I answered, to which Vivi looked down and caused me to feel bad. _Maybe he just wants someone to watch it with him_. "But I guess I can give it a try."

Vivi then looked up at me again before laughing happily and nodding once. I then let Vivi climb the ladder first before I grabbed hold, climbing up by throwing my weight upward due to lacking a left arm.

"Alright, the play's gonna if we don't hurry!" the rat kid pointed out once I reached the top before he ran across a plank of wood to another roof, then he turned around to face Vivi and I again. "Come on! Get over here!"

I looked down at Vivi and noticed he was looking down while taking small steps backward.

"You okay, Vivi?" I asked him.

"Let me guess… You're afraid of heights, aren't you?" the rat kid asked tauntingly, but I ignored him.

"You'll be fine, Vivi. Just pretend you're on the ground and don't look down," I assured the kid, to which he glanced up at me before looking across to the other roof and slowly walking forward, carefully walking across the plank with little problem.

I, on the other hand, felt the plank would break if I walked over it because of the weight of my sword. I took a few steps back before running across the plank to be on the safe side. Luckily it was sturdier than it looked and was still intact once I reached the other roof.

"Come on, already! We're runnin' outta time!" the rat kid berated us before running across another plank connecting to another roof.

As Vivi and I walked closer to the second plank, Vivi was once again being hesitant.

"Not again…" I heard the rat kid sigh in annoyance. "Don't worry! It won't fall!"

Like before, Vivi turned his attention to the roof across from us to keep himself from looking down as he slowly walked across the plank. Unfortunately, once he reached the other side, the plank snapped and fell to the streets below.

"Well, I guess it fell," the rat kid said.

"Just my luck…" I said to myself as I looked down from the edge of the roof.

Seeing little choice, I stepped back a bit before running towards the edge, jumping at the last minute and landing on the other roof knelt down.

"Not bad," the rat kid said, though his tone of voice said that he was unimpressed.

"Are you okay, Kurt?" Vivi asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered as I stood up straight. "Even if it didn't fall after you crossed, it likely would have while I crossed. Not sure I would've been able to make the jump if that happened."

"Enough with the small talk, we have a play to see!" the rat kid said before taking off again.

"Come on, Vivi. Let's get going," I said, earning a nod from the boy as we followed our "master" over a few more roofs, only to see he had stopped at the edge of the roof to the next building.

"Y'know, something just occurred to me…" the rat kid spoke up as he turned to face us. "I don't even know your names."

"I'm Vivi," Vivi introduced himself.

"Kurt," I did the same.

"Vivi and Kurt? Weird names," the rat kid said with a chuckle. "My name's Puck! Pleased to meetcha! Now let's hurry inside before the play starts!"

Puck then placed the ladder down and the three of us used it to gain entrance into the castle. Little did I know what would await me as a result of this encounter…

* * *

**MDD: So that takes care of the first chapter. Some of you may notice that it ends on a similar note as Duelist Of Dawn's story. Again, it was done with his permission and if I didn't end it similarly then the chapters would likely be somewhere around 50,000+ words each and I don't want to bore you with all that reading for a single chapter.**

**Next time: Problems With The Script? Just Improvise!**


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